TopAxyz Inertial Measurement Unit: land, naval and air transport

The TopAxyz Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) has been designed with advanced technologies (Ring Laser Gyro - RLG) and delivers the performance needed for critical aerial, land and naval transport applications. TopAxyz IMU comprises three laser gyroscopes and three accelerometers in a single, compact unit for guaranteed high-performance navigation (attitude, position and speed information) and designation systems. 

TopAxyz, the latest-generation Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), capitalizes on Thales's solid track record in designing high-end Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) based on Ring Laser Gyro (RLG) technology. It benefits from cutting-edge developments and substantial investment in new industrial installations, pushing back the boundaries of RLG technology capabilities. 

The TopAxyz Inertial Measurement Unit builds on the foundation of high-performance Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) providing navigation grade performance, and highly accurate localization and pointing information. 

This approach allows each sensor's weakness to be compensated by taking advantage of other sensors. The IMU is the common equipment at the heart of new multisensor data fusion in every type of manned and unmanned platform in naval, land and airborne domains. Multisensor data fusion efficiency will be directly linked with the sensor model introduced in the Kalman filter. TopAxyz IMU and its Ring Laser Gyrometer (RLG) has the simplest data model limited to a few parameters with high level of representativity in every type of external environment such as climatic, magnetic, shock, vibration. TopAxyz IMU provides angular rate and acceleration measurements from gyroscopes and accelerometers compensated from temperature variations, and coning and sculling motions. Built-in compensation is optimized to maximize the sensors' performance and reduce user computational complexity.

Collaborative platforms (such as surface ships with unmanned aerial drones) in both civilian and military applications are on the move in order to maximize the efficiency of available platforms and will be enhanced with emerging new technologies such as 5G networks, Artificial Intelligence (AI), edge computing and emerging operational concepts. Resilient positioning, navigation and timing (PNT also know as APNT) is key to these mobile platforms to deliver the expected service. TopAxyz delivers high-performance IMU navigation grade data for highly dynamic platforms with severe environmental stress such as shocks, vibrations, and thermal. TopAxyz IMU will significantly contribute to the required resilience for your system. 

Inertial Measurment Units (IMU) measure different types of vital, critical information which the mobile platform system employs to execute its mission. It consists of providing the physical measurment of both linear and angular acceleration in the space resulting in 6 information. 

Sensor assembly is highly critical when high performance is expected as small sensor integration details will have a significant effect on the overall performance. TopAxyz IMU will drastically reduce your effort and budget to have navigation grade performance IMU in your system as all sensor integration complexity is natively built in TopAxyz, providing you with fully compensated data (coning, sculling) ready to be used in your system. 

Single source of navigation is no longer the optimum solution to ensure both accuracy and required resilience (availability and integrity) throughout the mission. As a consequence, navigation performance is provided by the kalman filtering datafusion and its key capability to identify sensor weakness and compensate it using alternative sensor characteristics. TopAxyz Inertial Measurement Unit has no drift instability, allowing an easy characterization, valid in any condition. Once TopAxyz IMU natural drift is characterized, the applied compensation through the kalman multisensor data fusion will be optimum throughout the mission, maximizing navigation resilience and performance. This unique predictable performance will be at the foundation of all AI (Artifical Intelligence) for safe and efficient navigation decision making. 

The number of moving platforms, in every domain (airborne, land, naval), has constantly increased and the multiplication of unmanned platforms will amplify this trend. Meanwhile, on both military and civilian application, navigation spoofing is becoming a global trend. This reinforces the need for navigation intregrity, i.e. trusting your navigation data in any condition at any time. TopAxyz IMU has been developed within the highest safety critical level standard (ie: DO-254 Level A) and has permanent and comprehensive self-monitoring, resulting from the exhaustive Failure Mode Analysis Effect (FMEA), providing for your application the highest level of trust (i.e. integrity). 

End users are perpetually under pressure to reduce both operational and maintenance costs to optimize budgetary effectiveness. The reliability and availability of equipment are major contributors to make this a reality. TopAxyz is entirely maintenance-free (no calibration involved) throughout its product lifecycle, while its Inertial Measurment Unit (IMU) records reliability levels that are superior to 150,000 hours of Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF), as demonstrated on tens of millions of operating hours since 2015. These assets can significantly contribute to your system availability in operation and significantly reduce your customer cost of ownership. 

When adopting a new solution, there can be doubts as to the ability of the equipment to meet requirements in your environment without any side effects on your program. Thales can therefore offer a courtesy loan product within a short lead time so that it can be comprehensively assessed in your operational environment, demonstrating its pointing and navigation performance in order to meet your needs. 

All related critical technologies, ranging from the accelerometer to the high-accuracy Ring Laser Gyrometer (RLG), are mastered by and are the property of Thales, and are designed and manufactured at proprietary facilities in France. 

Through involvement in major civilian programs (Airbus A350) and flagship defense programs (SCORPION - French MoD), TopAxyz can be offered with very short lead times, with product support being guaranteed throughout the longest program lifetimes. 

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